Beach Dive - Sebastian Area, 15-May-99

Dive Reports:

Dive #1:
Saturday, 15-May, Morning Dive. My Dive #195
A. Dive Boat / Location:
2.9 mi S of Sebastian Bridge
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
10' - 15' at 200' out! (2nd reef ?)
Seas:
Flat
Water Temp:
71 - 74 deg
Skies:
Clear Blue Skies
Air Temp:
80's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 15' for 55 min
, Me: Analog - Not Used
Air consmption:
Me: 3500 lb to 2000 lb (120 cu ft)
Dive Partner: 3300 to @ 800 (80 cu ft)
Current:
None - a small surge towards the end of the dive
Description:
With high tide for this area around 8:30 sat and 9:00 sun, the next of the
sequence of
Sebastian to Ft. Pierce Wreck / Beach dives
was organized. The divers were to meet south of the inlet! Five divers
showed up! We did not go across to the ocean north of the musium due to No
Tresspassing signs!! We went half way down towards Ampersand Park - there's an
empty lot which does allow access to the ocean. There's also No Tresspassing
signs! This location will put you at a spot just south of Kip's Cabin! Kip
was the original finder of Treasure! There are several wrecks off of this
spot. Well, we then went north, past the musium to the first access with no No
Trespassing signs. From here we entered the water - about 100 yard walk.
There was no surf! The vis at the first reef at about 6' depth was about 6".
We continued out to the next reef 9' - 15' depth. I beleive this was the
second reef. There was some small rock formations. From here, we turned south
towards the musium. We saw three small sheephead and several smaller fish! We
also saw what I called an Ugly fish between 2 rocks! It had a big head and
looked like it could split clam shells in one bite! There was about 1/2 crass
cover. There even was some colors!

Pulling a dive flag, we managed to get about 1/2 way to the musium. As one of
our dive partners was down to 1000 lbs of air, we started back. We then
decided to go ashore and walk back - not too far of a walk.

When I first entered the water, there was one single 20' boat with one person
on-board going up and down the coast. We could not identify this person as a
fisherman, police or a treasure watcher. One of our fellow dive partners said
the boat did get very close to us and tried to yell at us - we didn't hear
them. I did have a camera and would have taken there picture if they did get
too close! If he was a fisherperson - well, there were not many fish out
there!!

The original plan called for camping out in Sebastian Park on Sat night and
diving again on Sunday morn. Well, after waiting for several hours at the camp
site, no other takers showed up! I decided to go home and sleep in Air
Conditioned comfort. As it turned out, there was another group, with a boat
and a cell phone! I told them to take the camp site. Sunday morning, the seas
were 2' at 6 am! In agreement with Wayne, we decided not to go on the dive -
the seas would be too rough and there would be no vis! It was not possible to
contact any that were going to show up!!

Lessons Learned:
1) All involved need to have a contact phone number available for an early
cancel!
2) All need to agree on a meeting place and time - then an approximation of
where the group will be. If the time is set to 8 am, with high tide at 8:30,
the group needs to be in the water ASAP! At high tide and thereafter,
conditions will get worse! We, as organizers need to better plan the timelines
and alternatives.
3) All need to agree on the primary dive location and an alternative. The
group needs to hold to these dive locations for latecomers!
4 I was able to measure out the milage of the beach access's between the
musium and the inlet. If we had used the next access to the north, we might
have found the Pines Wreck!